Show Me Dreams
by Tomomori
Summary: It all seemed real - the heat burning against his skin, the cries of people, the sound of the arriving firefighters. He was lying on his back, and the inferno was still in full force above his head. But before he could register anything else, a loud, heart-wrenching cry tore through the chaos and demanded his full attention. "Tadashi!" - Full of spoilers!


So, I watched Big Hero 6 a few days ago and I basically fell in love with it. Ever since I had several ideas going around my head and this story is one of them. Actually I don't know what to think about this because by the end I thought it sounded a little stupid, but I decided to put it here 'cause maybe someone will like it. Maybe tell me your opinions in a review?

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Big Hero 6, Disney does.

It all seemed real - the heat burning against his skin, the cries of people, the sound of the arriving firefighters. It all seemed real even as he realized in the fraction of a moment that an explosion was coming towards him with unimaginable speed. It even felt real as he was blinking to clear his head. He was lying on his back, and the inferno was still in full force above his head. But before he could register anything else, a loud, heart-wrenching cry tore through the chaos and demanded his full attention.

"Tadashi!"

Hiro's voice was terrified. It was the kind of voice that was able to make Tadashi forget about everything else and fight his way through the world if he needed to just so he could get to his little brother, so he could embrace him and tell him everything was going to be all right. The man did exactly like this - as soon as Hiro screamed his name the world ceased to exist around them and he ran to reassure his brother. He didn't even notice how he went through the raging flames untouched. When he reached the door leading outside, he stopped at the top of the stairs to see where his brother was. He spotted him at the bottom, tears streaming down his face, screaming his older brother's name with such force it must have hurt his vocal chords and fighting against two firefighters holding him back; he tried to tear himself out of their grip with all his might so he could run after Tadashi. The older started over to him but stopped short when suddenly an another firefighter run at him - and then simply went through him. He staggered at this and looked down at himself, only to find nothing but thin air. He felt his heart sink - was he dead?! He threw himself in front of Hiro.

"Hiro!"

His little brother didn't even spare him a glance, he just kept wailing at the fire, calling his name until he went hoarse. Tadashi fell back in shock.

"I'm dead..."

Suddenly, everything turned dark around him - there was no burning school, or scared people or screaming Hiro. He glanced around confused. Now what? He stood up and right then, colors swam into the black, creating a different scene around him. He was in their room back at home. The first thing he noticed was that it was completely dark - it was probably nighttime. He was standing on Hiro's side, by his desk, and looking down at it, he saw a plate full of food that hasn't been touched, and a little further, Hiro's bot was sprawled out, like it was thrown there without any care. It was only then that he realized he wasn't alone in the room - his little brother laid on top of his bed, stared up at the ceiling, and was so still that for a horrifying moment Tadashi thought he was dead as well. But then he took a breath and his little chest rose an fell, spreading relief through the Tadashi's. He noticed it was probably some time after the funeral - his funeral, oh god -, because he was wearing suit pants, a white shirt and an untied necktie; the jacket of the suit was thrown over the back of his swivel chair. There was one more thing he realized: Hiro was holding his baseball cap in his hands, the one he was always wearing. His fingers were clasped around it gingerly and yet with such strength as if he was afraid of letting go. Tadashi's heart broke at the sight.

"Hiro, I'm so sorry..."

There was a knock on the door and when his little brother didn't answer, it opened up, revealing aunt Cass, who brought food to her nephew. Tadashi turned to look at her, but Hiro didn't even move a muscle. The fake smile fell from the woman's face as she walked up to the desk, switched the old plate to a new one, and she forced it back while asking the boy a few questions. The older man felt his heart break a little more every time Hiro said 'Yeah' or 'A'ight', his eyes never leaving the ceiling and his hands gripping his hat a little tighter. Aunt Cass soon went back downstairs sadly and Tadashi looked back at his brother.

The scene started to swirl and darken and before he could cry out that no, he can't leave his brother alone now, colors already settled into a picture again. He was back in their room, though now some light was seeping through the shutters. Hiro was sitting at his computer, watching some video he couldn't really see as it just ended. His little brother stood up and grabbed his robot on the way. Something was wrong with it though, because it fell apart and the bottom half landed on Hiro's toe. He couldn't help but laugh a little as his little brother hopped over to his bed while rubbing his foot, and he hissed 'Ow'. The faint beeping and the sound of something being inflated made them both turn towards it. Tadashi felt a small wave of happiness wash over him when he realized that Baymax, his Baymax would help Hiro - after all, that was the main reason he built him. He stood aside when the robot finally made it out from behind his bed and over to Hiro - not that Baymax would have noticed he walked through him. Tadashi was starting to get used to the fact he's invisible.

He watched with slight amusement the scene playing out when his little brother tried to persuade the nurse he was fine and the other tried to fix whatever problem arose. He laughed as Hiro fell between his desk and his bed, and had his toys fall on him when he tried to stand up.

"Bonehead..." he mumbled lovingly. In mere seconds, he found his baby brother sprawled out on the floor once again, but this time, Hiro found something interesting. Pulling out a microbot from one of his hoodies, they saw that it was moving about, like it wanted to go somewhere. Hiro put it into a glass container and returned to fixing his robot, insisting the thing was broken. Baymax, however, offered he would find out where it wanted to go and his brother agreed with him - until he heard the door to the cafeteria close. The scene blurred as Hiro was grabbing his sneakers and a hoodie and ran down the stairs.

The next place was by an old, unused warehouse and he saw Hiro gasping for air as he leaned over his knees. Then, the genius tried the door, only to see a lock hanging firmly over it. While Baymax pointed out that there was a window, he tried whether he could walk through the wall. His hand slid through the metal with ease, and Tadashi didn't like the feeling. He looked sadly over to Hiro, and his heart almost jumped out from his chest when he realized his little brother was balancing cautiously on top of a not too stable structure - Baymax's head - at a height that would grant him something broken at best, had he fallen. But then, Hiro pulled himself into the safety of the window and letting out a huff of air, he too walked through the wall to join him inside. He barely had time to look around in the darkness when he jumped at the loud sound of Baymax trying to fit through a window half his size. He winced when the robot started to deflate, sending an alarming, long whistle in every direction. Somehow he didn't like this place and he wished Hiro didn't come here either. But he was here, and knowing him, he wouldn't listen to anyone until he found what he was looking for. Finally the whistling stopped and Tadashi saw Hiro pull Baymax through the window, then leaving the robot to reinflate himself and deciding to look around. When he got down, Tadashi joined his brother and they walked up to a fogged glass wall. Behind it, a machine was working on something that eerily looked like...

"My microbots?" Hiro mumbled confused as he lifted out a few from the container and let them stream back into it. "Someone's making more..."

Something then grabbed his little brother's attention and just as he tried to see what was it, a voice called:

"Hiro?"

Tadashi wasn't proud of the undignified, scared shout that left his mouth while he probably jumped to the ceiling. This one time he was glad no one could hear or see him. By his side, Hiro was turning down Baymax's offer of defibrillating him. What happened next, none of them expected it. The microbots started to gather and loomed threateningly over the three of them. Hiro run off and dragged Baymax after him, trying to find a way out, while Tadashi jumped in between the attacking swarm and his little brother, forgetting he wasn't capable of stopping anything. The microbots swooped through him like the thin air he was. Then, he watched them trying to escape realizing he was unable to to anything to help. He shouted in worry as the window flipped over Baymax and his brother fell out it. He ran outside just in time to see them both fall and the robot grabbing Hiro to protect him. He couldn't stop the sigh of relief as he watched them run off in the direction of the city, where they would be safe... hopefully.

The colors swirled in a familiar way before clearing away and setting him down in a dock. Hiro and - was that Baymax? - were running from shadow to shadow, looking for something. Tadashi frowned when he looked Baymax over. His nursing robot was wearing a gray carbon-fiber armor over his body. Why would Hiro give his robot an armor anyway? He had been hoping Hiro was smarter to get into more trouble he could handle, but he saw the evidence of how wong he was. Feeling utterly useless, he accompanied his little brother. He grabbed after Hiro's hood the exact same time Baymax did when he walked out over the water - for a mere second thinking he was able to touch him - but he retracted his hand disappointed when he realized Baymax was the one keeping his brother from falling. After he was on the ground with both his legs, Hiro noticed something in the fog and ushered Baymax to hide behind one of the giant containers. The three of them watched the man in a kabuki mask as he was travelling on the bots the same way Hiro was when he showed them on the stage. Tadashi glared at him - this was the man who endangered his little brother in that warehouse. He felt anger bubbling in his chest and this didn't surprise him - even though he rarely felt like this. The only case someone could anger Tadashi like this if they were trying to hurt Hiro - the most important thing in his life. Just like now. If the older could interfere in these things happening he would probably throw himself at this mysterious man and show him to never, ever touch his baby brother. But like this, without a body, he could only watch with gritted teeth.

The sudden light and the sound of an engine tore his attention away from the masked man and he turned toward the arriving car along with Hiro. When his friends emerged from the vehicle, Tadashi laughed in relief. If anything happened, he knew they would do anything to protect his brother. His momentary relief turned into shock and fear as the hated man threw one of the containers at them after spotting his onlookers. He stared at Baymax in awe when the robot caught the large metal box, saving them all.

"Hiro, what did you do to him?" he mumbled to himself as the others rushed back towards the car, dragging his little bro along and Tadashi couldn't have been more grateful to them as they sped away.

The scene once again turned into a colorful blur and the next time it settled down he was standing in another abandoned building - an old research facility, maybe? - and there were Hiro, Baymax, this time in an upgraded, red and blue armor, and there were Honey Lemon, Wasabi, GoGo and... yep, that's definitely Fred in that weird costume. They all looked like some kind of superheroes, realized Tadashi. Hiro seemed to be their leader as they were exploring the strange room they were in. He followed them into what seemed like a controlling room, taking his time examining his friends' outfits. They were basically a combination of the individuals' personality and Hiro's genius robotics knowledge. He looked over to his little bro with pride in his eyes. The kid was capable of way more he ever gave himself credit for. Tadashi knew he was right that he never gave up on him.

They filed into the controlling room and Hiro brought up a video on the giant screen. They all watched in awe and then with horror, what happened years ago. While the team discussed whether or not the masked man is Krei, he turned around when Baymax said 'Oh no' and yelled in alarm, but no one heard him. The next moment a huge boulder came flying and while it passed through Tadashi leaving him unharmed, it buried his little brother and his friends under it.

"Hiro!" he yelled frantically and tried with all his might to lift the damn slate, his hands failing to grab hold of it. He covered his head as a reflex when the next moment the rock exploded into smithereens. His eyes found Hiro right away and he was so happy his brother was fine he ran over and tried to hug him. But just as he would have started to feel sad that his hands couldn't touch the genius, the boy was knocked out of his grasp and then, he ran off to see what happened to Baymax who landed farther away. In the next minute Tadashi watched how his friends try to defeat this man and end up defeated themselves, and just as they were about to get crushed by the swarm of microbots, Hiro a Baymax entered the fray. Tadashi gasped as he saw Hiro was knocked down from his robot's back and crashed into the masked man. He ran over as fast as he could, which was really fast ever since he didn't have a body. Arriving, he saw his brother snatching up the kabuki mask from the ground and standing up, awaiting the man to show his face. Tadashi stood behind him, and looked at the guy shuffling to get up. He finally rose and started to turn around...

"Tadashi!"

The sudden voice scared him so much he felt himself shot up and bump into something with a large thud, which was followed by a thump somewhere to his side. He stared in front of himself and he was panting as if he ran across whole San Fransokyo.

"Ugh! Dude!" came the complaint from beside him, and his head turned to face his little brother.

Hiro Hamada was sitting on the floor where he fell when Tadashi headbutted him as he shot up in bed, holding his throbbing forehead with his hands. His eyes were full of shock and worry, especially so, when his older brother took several seconds to even respond. Tadashi reached out and slowly touched Hiro's elbow. His face fell happily when his fingers bumped into the fabric of his little bro's blue hoodie. He could touch him! And Hiro was looking at him and speaking to him! He was alive? Was everything that happened up until now a dream?

He looked around and indeed saw they were in their shared room, and he was sitting in his bed. He looked at Hiro who stood up and he suddenly realized his brother was hurt.

"Sorry, are you okay? Let me see" he said as he took the genius' elbow and sat him down to the edge of the bed. Hiro let him remove his hand from his forehead and check the already growing bump, and he was watching how Tadashi's forehead grew one as well. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and serious; his tone worried.

"You looked like you had a nightmare. You were trashing and mumbling and I woke you up. I've never seen you having a nightmare before... Was it... Was it bad?"

Tadashi looked into his eyes a little surprised, but his face soon melted into a reassuring smile.

"Yes, but it's all right now. Thank you for waking me up, little bro."

He ruffled Hiro's always messy black hair, and basked in the loving smile that his brother sent him.

"What day is it anyway?" He asked looking around and Hiro's face dropped unbelievingly.

"Today's the fair! Come on, don't tell me you forgot! And thanks to you, I'll be in trouble!"

"What do you mean?" Tadashi frowned.

"Well, how do you expect me to put on my neurocranium transmitter when another head is growing out of my forehead?!" Hiro asked accusingly, once again putting his hand on the bump that by this time started to get colorful. Tadashi laughed.

"Why don't you put some ice on it? It should help, genius."

He watched his brother standing up and trotting downstairs dramatically and two seconds later he heard the worried voice of aunt Cass, who was asking what happened to his nephew. He shook his head smiling and he climbed out of bed.

In the end, he didn't find out the identity of the masked man in his dream - thank goodness it was only a dream; but he didn't really mind it, because in the reality, Hiro was fine and he was happy and he was getting ready for the biggest day in his life yet. And Tadashi couldn't wish for anything more.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful - soon enough aunt Cass made the bump disappear and with a little makeup she covered the bruise, so Hiro could present his tech perfectly - it was a huge success - and just as the team went to celebrate Hiro getting into college, he told his aunt that they would catch up soon. She hugged them both and ran off after the others and they walked off into the opposite direction.

As they were looking over one of the school's buildings, Tadashi smiled.

"Welcome to nerd school... nerd." Hiro smiled back at him.

"Hey, I... I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, so... You know... Thanks for not giving up on me."

Tadashi nodded at his little brother.

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of an alarm from the school's direction, and they both ran back worried. When they got back, the whole building was on fire and people were running down the stairs. Tadashi ran over to a woman and caught her as she tripped.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and the woman told them that professor Callaghan was still inside the building. Tadashi took off towards the building, but Hiro grabbed his arm.

"Tadashi, no!"

Looking back he saw his little brother's eyes pleading for him to stay, to not go in there. He hesitated. Suddenly, he remembered his dream. It started off exactly like this. The building was on fire and he left his brother behind to save his teacher. And then... he died. He died and he left his little brother completely by himself. He couldn't protect him when he was in danger, he couldn't be there when he needed him the most, because he went in to save someone, and he never came out again. He hesitated, because he knew he didn't want to put Hiro through all the suffering he saw in his dream. But he turned to look at the building. Even with that, he cannot just ignore Callaghan, just let him die in there... He looked back at Hiro. He had to decide. His little brother was terrified, fear was rolling off of him in waves. Fear of losing his older brother. Tadashi looked back at the school one more time before turning back to Hiro.

"Callaghan's in there. Someone has to help."

With that he pulled his arm out of his brother's grip and started up the stairs. He could only take a few steps before an explosion shook the air and he felt himself flying backwards. He fell hard against the ground and his whole body was aching. The last thing he saw was a shadow that looked like Hiro bending down over him and putting a hand on his chest.

"Tadashi!" he heard his name strangely muffled.

Before he drifted off into unconciousness, Tadashi thought:

"He isn't as scared as he was in my dream..."

He somehow felt happy about it, because he knew he wouldn't be able to bear hearing Hiro so terrified and desperate and suffering.


End file.
